Ice tray



Jilly 1941- I R. L. HALLOCK 2,248,680

ICE TRAY File d may 12, 1934 Patented July 8, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ICE TRAY Robert Lay. Hallock, Larchmont, N. Y. Application May 12, 1934, Serial at. 725,234

32 Claims. (01. 62-1085) This application is a continuation in part of my co-pending application Serial No. 614,091 filed May 28, 1932 (Patent No. 2,036,043).

My invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to grids for ice trays.

The object of my invention is to provide a grid structure such that ice cubes can be removed from the tray in which they are frozen and removed from the grid without the use of heat and with very little force. 1

The nature and advantages of the invention will be apparent from a. consideration of the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, forming a part of this specification, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of an ice tray embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front view of the embodiment shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3; v

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a modification;

Fig. 6 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line t6 of Fig. 5; and

Figs. 7 and 8 are vertical transverse sectional views of different forms of grid structure.

The invention contemplates the use of an ice tray made of relatively thin material, preferably metal, such as sheet aluminum, the material of the tray and/or the construction of the tray being such that the tray is adapted to have some flexure. The tray comprises a body portion it of the usual rectangular dish form to the front bf which is attached a front cover plate H. The tray rests on-a shelf H which is part of an evaporator of a refrigerating apparatus, the evaporator being cooled by the evaporation oi refrigerant in pipes or spaces associated with or forming part of the evaporator.

Forming a continuation of the front wall 53 of the tray body (see Fig. 2) is a top wall It, a front wall i5, and a rearwardly extending piece it. Wall i3 is formed with a projection I]. A

View

. circular opening it is provided in wall 15. A cir- A part of member I9 is cut away at 24 to form a cam surface 26. Cam surface 26 is adapted to lift a projection 25 on movement of the finger piece 2! to the right as shown in Fig. 4. A member 26 is loosely pivoted on member I9 at 21 and extends downwardly through a slot in member 86 and contacts or is slightly above shelf l2 in the position of the parts shown in the figures. on movement of the handle 2i to the right as shown in Fig. 4, the member 26 is projected downwardly below the bottom of the tray and contacts shelf ii for separating the tray from the shelf.

reinforcing member 33.

This feature of separation of the tray from the shelf is not herein claimed but forms the subject matter of one or more separate applications filed by' me.

Within the tray Iii is a grid 30 which includes a central longitudinal part SI and transverse webs 32. The grid is essentially a rubber grid,

the part 3i and webs 32 being made essentially of rubber. Extending longitudinally of the longitudinal part 3| is a stiff metal backbone rod or At the forward end of the tray, this rod extends upwardly and over the wall it and downwardly through an aperture 34 in top wall it, and ends in the projection 25 previously mentioned, which contacts cam surface 26. The bar 33 constitutes a reinforcement for the grid and is preferably'so heavy as to make the central portion of the grid less resilient to vertical load than the tray body.

In the use of the invention, the tray is filled with water and placed in position in the compartment of the refrigerator with the lever M in the position shown. When the water has frozen and it is desired to remove ice cubes the lever 2i is moved to release .position as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 4. The turning of the finger piece 2i causes member 26 to move downwardly and contact shelf l2 to separate the tray from the shelf. At the same time projection 25 is moved upwardly by contact with the cam surface 24 and the force multiplication of the lever is applied to separating the grid with the ice cubes attached as a unit from the tray body. The ice tray is then removed from the refrigerator and the grid with ice cubes attached can be readily lifted out of the tray by lifting on the upper part of the reinforcing bar 33. Since the grid is made up essentially of rubber webs which are consequently flexible and distortable, the ice cubes can be picked off from the grid without use of heat such as by placing the grid with the ice cubes under a water faucet.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 5 and 6, a

difierent force multiplying mechanism is provided. In this case, it consists of a lever II which is pivoted to the grid at H and has no connection with the tray body. Lever 40 extends forwardly from the pivot point and contacts the front wall l3 at 44 whence it then extends upwardly and along the top of the grid. It ,is widened at 42 so that it may be readily manipulated. The tray containing ice being removed from the evaporator compartment, the lever II is raised as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 6. This causes a push against the wall of the tray body at 4| and since the tray body is made of flexible material a separation begins at this point,

the metal of the tray body being pushed away from the ice. The force is thus applied at one I point and the separation progresses downwardly along wall l3 and rearwardly along the bottom and side walls so that the grid is progressively peeled away from the tray body. By utilizing this peeling principle a small force'is available for separating the ice from the tray body although tightly frozen thereto. As shown, the member 40 may be made of a piece of bent wire though it will be obvious that other forms may be used.

In Fig. 7. I have shown the backbone as a central metal piece 44 extending the full height of the longitudinal part 3| of the grid. In Fig. 8, the reinforcing bar a is disposed at the bottom of the longitudinal part 3| of the grid and is of T shape.

The constructions shown in Figs. '7 and 8 may be used with the force multiplying mechanisms shown in either Fig. 1 or Fig. 6.

The removal of the ice cubes from the structure shown in Figs. 5 and 6 can be accomplished much the same as with that shown in Figs. 1 to.4. The operator having lifted the gridout of the tray by holding the lever 40, can either continue to hold the lever in one hand and pick the ice cubes off with the other hand, or may release the hand and twist the rubber part of the grid by applying the hands directly to the ice cubes. The ice. cubes are removed due to the bending of the soft rubber.

It will be understood that various departures may be made from the disclosure within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. An ice tray comprising a tray body and a rubber division member therein, a rigid member forming part of said division member, and means for'exerting force against said rigid member.

2. A grid for an ice tray comprising a rigid backbone member, and a flexible member and including a longitudinal portion mounted on said rigid member and webs projecting lateral 1y from said longitudinal portion and loose with respect to said rigid backbone member.-

3. A rubber grid having a longitudinal recess adapted to receive a rigid reinforcing member and unrecessed lateral webs.

4. A grid for an ice tray including a distortable part having a longitudinal portion and transverse webs, and means for mechanically lifting the grid from a tray including a rigid member cooperating with said longitudinal portion, said transverse webs being loose with respect to said longitudinal portion.

5. A grid for an ice tray including a flexible part having a longitudinal portion and transverse webs, and means for mechanically liftingv ber cooperating with said longitudinal portion and a lever attached to said rigid member.

6. The combination with a flexible ice tray, of a grid therefor having flexible webs and a stiflened backbone.

7. The combination with a flexible metal ice tray, of a rubber grid therefor having a stiffened backbone for mechanical removal thereof.

8. A freezing tray comprising: a metal container pan, a flexible partitioning device within said pan having a flexible rubber main partition and aseries 0! flexible rubber transverse partitions integrally formed therewith and providing two rows of ice block compartments, and

an actuating member-engaging said main partition and manually actuatable to move said main partition upwardly relative to said pan.

An ice tray including a tray body and-a rubber division member therein, a rigid member associated with at least one part or the rubber member and not with at least another part whereby the rubber member is distortable despite the rigidity aflorded by the rigid member, the parts being so constructed and arranged that the entire rubber member with ice pieces attached can be removed as a unit by application of force to the rigid member and the ice pieces can thereafter be individually removed from the rubber member.

10. An ice tray comprising a tray body, a rigid member in said tray body forming part of a division member, a readily distortable rubber structure forming another part of the division member, and means for exerting force against said rigid member.

11. An ice tray comprising a tray body, a division member therein made of resilient material and having a narrow rigid member embedded in said material and projecting therefrom, the material being loose except in proxim'ity to the rigid member, and means for exerting force against the projecting part of said rigid member.

12. An ice tray comprising a tray body, a distortable rubber division member therein, a rigid reinforcing member embedded in a sectlon of the rubber and projecting therefrom, leaving the greater part of the rubber free from reinforcement, and means for exerting force. against the projecting part of said rigid member.

applied to the rigid member causes lifting of the flexible member.

14. A grid for an ice tray including a flexible part having a longitudinal portion and transverse webs, and means for mechanically lifting the grid from a tray including a rigid memthe grid from a tray including a rigid member extending longitudinally along said longitudinal portion and force multiplying means for applying force to said rigid member.

15. A freezing tray comprising: a container pan, a flexible partitioning device within said pan having a flexible main partition and a series of flexible transverse partitions attached to said main partition and forming two rows of ice block compartments, a rigid member extending longitudinally of said main partition, and an actuating member engaging said rigid member and manually aetuatable to move said rigid member and thereby said partitions upwardly relae tive to said pan.

16. A freezing tray comprising: a metal container pan, 8. flexible partitioning device within said pan having a flexible rubber main partition and a series of flexible rubber transverse partitions integrally formed therewith and providing two rows of ice block compartments, a rigid member engaging said main partition and extending longitudinally thereof, and an actuating member engaging said rigid member and manually actuatable to move said rigid member and said partitions upwardly relative to said pan.

17. An ice freezing device comprising a combination of a receptacle for containing water to be frozen, a removable dividing wall therein for forming a plurality of ice blocks suitable for domestic use, said wall being flexible for facilitating the removal of ice cubes from the dividing wall, means for forcibly removing the flexible wall from the receptacle after the liquid is frozen and for imparting sumcient stiffness to said wall to resist substantial flexing in direction of the force which is applied to remove the wall from the receptacle while affording'relative movement of parts of the wall.

18. Apparatus for producing ice particles comprising a pan and a grid structure dividing said pan into four corner cells and a series of interunit, said grid structure comprising a longitudinal wall member and a plurality of transverse mediate cells disposed in rows and extending between said'corner cells, said grid structure embodying a longitudinal, vertically disposed wall and a plurality of vertically disposed walls movable with respect to said longitudinal wall and extending transversely on opposite sides thereof, the movability of said transverse walls with respect to said longitudinal wall facilitating the removal of ice pieces fromthe grid structure, said longitudinal wall having sufilcient stiifness to render the grid structure substantially rigid when force in an upward direction is applied-at an end thereof, and a handle attached to an end of the gridstructure and engageable with the pan for raising the grid structure from the pan.

19. A grid for a refrigerator comprising a backbone, a plurality of flaps forming upright partitions held by said backbone and movable with respect thereto to permit loosening of ice cubes, said backbone having sufiicient stiffness to render the grid substantially rigid when force is applied in an upward direction to remove the grid from a tray, and a member connected to said backbone with which to exert the upward force to raise the grid from the tray.

20. A grid for an ice tray including a rigid longitudinal member, webs mounted on said rigid member and being movable relative to each other and relative to said rigid member, and force multiplying means for applying force to an end of said rigid member. 21. A freezing tray and grid combination comprising: a shallow tray of greater length than width and a grid fitting in the tray including a rigid member extending longitudinally of the tray, a lever mounted on one end of said rigid member and constructed and arranged to exert force between the grid and the tray for removing the grid from the tray, and webs mounted on said rigid member andv being movable relative to each other and relative to said rigid member, for the removal of ice pieces from the grid without thawing.

' 22. A' unitary grid structure for disposition in a freezing tray and removable therefrom as a to said rigid member, and a lever member and forming therewith a permanent unitary structure having a row of ice block cempartments on each side of the longitudinal wall member, said wall members being movable relative to each other, means for imparting sufficient stiffness to said grid to resist substantial flexing in the direction of the force which is applied to remove the grid from a freezing tray while affording relative movement of the wall members, and means for forcibly'disengaging the grid structure from a freezing tray.

23. An ice freezing device comprising the combination of a receptacle for containing water to be frozen, a removable dividing wall structure therein for forming a plurality of ice blocks suitable for domestic use, said wall structure being distortable for facilitating the removal of ice cubes from the dividing wall structure, means for forcibly removing the wall from the receptacle, and means for imparting sufllcient stiffness to said wall structure to resist substantial distortion in the direction of the force which is applied to remove the .wall from the receptacle while affording distortabilityof the wall structure, said wall structure including transverse wall members extending continuously from side to side of the wall' structure, the wall members and the means for imparting stiffness forming a unitary structure.

24. A receptacle for producing ice particles comprising a pan and a grid structure flexible in part and dividing said pan into four corner cells and a series of intermediate cells disposed in rows and extending between said corner cells, said grid structure embodying a longitudinal, vertically disposed wall and a plurality of vertically disposed v ills extending transversely from the longitudinal wall on opposite sides thereof, means embodied in the grid structure for rendering the same substantially rigid when force in an upward direction is applied at an end thereof, and leverage mechanism acting between an end of the grid structure and the pan I for disengaging the grid structure from the pan.

25. The combination with a tray for freezing water, of a grid insertable into said tray comprising a plurality of flexible webs constituting walls of ice cube chambers, means to hold said .flexible webs in limited relative position while permitting their flexure comprising a continuous longitudinal member extending substantially the length of the tray on which said webs are mounted, and means to apply force to said longitudinal member to free the grid and ice cubes from the tray.

26. The combination with a tray for freezing water, of a grid insertable into said tray comprising a plurality of flexible webs constituting walls of ice cube chambers, means to hold said flexible webs in limited relative position while permitting their flexure comprising a continuous longitudinal member extending substantially the length of the tray underneath said webs and on which said webs are mounted, and means to apply force to said longitudinal member to free the grid and ice cubes from the tray.'

27. A grid for an ice tray comprising a rigid backbone member, a flexible member connected mounted on said rigid member. Y

28. A receptacle for producing ice particles comprising a pan and a grid structure flexible in part and dividing said pan into four corner cells and a series of intermediate cells disposed in rows and extending between said corner cells,

said grid structure embodying a longitudinal,

vertically disposed wall and a plurality of vertically disposed walls connected to and extending transversely from the longitudinal vwall on opposite sides thereof, means embodied in the grid structure for rendering the same substantially rigid when force in an upward direction is applied at an end thereof, and a handle attached to an end of the grid structure and engageable with the pan for disengaging the grid structure from the pan.

29. The combination with an ice tray, of a grid comprising a rigid backbone member, a flexible member cooperating with said rigid member,

and force multiplying mechanism operable to thereof, and force multiplying mechanism acting' between an end of the grid structure and the pan for disengaging the grid structure from the pan.

31. The combination with an ice tray, of a grid comprising a rigid backbone member, a flexible member cooperating with said rigid member, and force multiplying mechanism operable to apply iorce to cause relative movement between the grid and tray to break an ice bond.

32. The combination with a tray for holding water to be frozen, of'a grid for dividing the space of the tray so that ice cubes are formed, said grid including. a plurality of vertical movable webs providing walls Ior the ice cube compartments, and said grid including means to retain the webs so that they have a predetermined position when putting water in the tray while permitting movement of the webs to harvest the ice cubes, said retaining means extending substantially the length of the tray, and means operable to produce force acting through said retaining means to break the ice bond formed on freezing between the tray and its contents.

ROBERT LAY HALLOCK. 

